No one, on a day like today, could possibly find reason to complain that nature forgot her spring itinerary. Today is as glorious a day as anyone might imagine perfection could be. So warm that all the house windows have been flung open, the doors as well, and the fresh fragrance of outdoor 'air conditioning' wafts through the house.

It's possible it has made Jackie and Jillie a little more frenetic than usual about getting out, even though getting out for them lacks much when we're not accompanying them.

Sundays are their favourite days, and mostly because we tend to have pancakes and breakfast sausages together, all of us. They even enjoy some of the breakfast honeydew melons that we love, bananas too if they're truly desperate. Once they've finished their own kibble/chicken breakfast, their little noses follow the scent of what's cooking on the stovetop. And they position themselves beside me anxiously as I flip pancakes.

Watch with eager anticipation as I wield knife and fork and cut their pancakes and sausages into teeny pieces. And when everything has sufficiently cooled, gulp it down in one fell swoop, then search heartbreakingly for any wayward crumbs. Why bother cutting everything up so daintily for them, when they just swoop in and scoop up? Good question.

With such a warm day and no rain in the offing my husband decided to clean the deck and paint it with a sealant, an annual task, before hauling out the summer furniture. So he gathered the necessary implements and the pail of sealant left over from last year's application and went to it. He used to be able to buy a sealant with stain incorporated in it, but can no longer source it.

We wondered when we set off for the ravine with Jackie and Jillie towing us along, whether the trails would be full of people seeking fresh air, exercise and sun, but discovered far fewer people out than has been usual for the past several weeks. Due no doubt to the fact that since stores will be closed tomorrow for Victoria Day, more people chose to do their shopping today. No complaints from our end, however.

Jillie had been outfitted with a different harness to replace the one she had wiggled out of several times during our trailwalk yesterday. She also had less occasion to get all excited in the presence of strange dogs, so the alternate harness failed to get a real workout. It turned out to be for all concerned, a more serene stroll through the forest trails, more like old times.

As might be anticipated for such a spectacularly beautiful day, there was plenty to see alongside the trails, from tender new ferns unfurling themselves in graceful fronds, to the really peculiar sight of a poplar that extreme winter weather had cracked and toppled. A dead poplar in other words.

Dead it might have been, completely separated from what was left of its trunk broken a foot off the forest floor, but the branches were sporting catkins, bright green fruiting bodies, making it evident that the tree was determined if not to continue living, then at least to provide for its offspring seedlings to take its place. Nature truly is marvellous.

We saw the first of the serviceberry trees in bloom, and a nice big patch of wild ginger making itself back at home again for summer. Jillie was unpleasantly startled when a beetle zipping through the air seemed to make directly for her. And in turn I was surprised when I felt a familiar prick and looked down to see a mosquito settled on the back of my hand.

wild Ginger Emerging

On our return home, we noted that the magnolia tree in the front garden is steadily opening more and more of its flower buds, the bright sun picking out the hot-pink flowers emerging. And tulips too are beginning to open and flaunt their petalled perfection. What a truly exciting time of year this is!